Thursday, October 4, 2012

Militant soccer fans score political victory

Militant soccer fans, Egypt’s second largest civic group,
scored a political with a decision by associates of ousted president Hosni
Mubarak to definitively withdraw from elections for the board of the Egyptian
Football Association.

The decision by world soccer body FIFA executive committee
member Hani Abou-Reida and former crowned Cairo club Al Ahly SC goalkeeper
Ahmed Shobeir to withdraw came in response to a campaign by Ultras Ahlawy
demanding they be disqualified.

The ultras – one of several highly politicised,
well-organized, street battle-hardened fan groups – attacked the club’s
training ground, the EFA’s headquarters and media organizations to push their
demands, which also include a clean-up of Egyptian soccer and media, whom they
accuse of corruption and fanning the flames of confrontation; reform of the
security forces; depriving the interior ministry’s police and security’s forces
-- the country’s most despised institution widely viewed as the brutal
enforcers of repression under Mr. Mubarak – of responsibility for security in
the stadiums; and the resignation of the EFA and Al Ahly boards.

The withdrawal of the two candidates constituted not only a
victory in their fight for a clean-up of Egyptian soccer but also in an
increasing confrontation between fans, who played a key role in last year’s
overthrow of Mr. Mubarak, and players who either stood on the side lines of the
popular uprising or supported the ousted leader.

The confrontation spilled this week into the streets of
Cairo with players and fans holding rival demonstrations in front of the sports
ministry in favour and against a resumption of professional soccer that has
been suspended since 74 Al Ahly fans were killed in a politically loaded brawl
in February in Port Said.

The EFA has said that the eight-month suspension was being
lifted and that professional soccer would resume on October 17.

A newly founded group of players, The Voice of Sportsmen,
said last week in a statement on Facebook that it was “extremely important that
football competitions are resumed because this is our job and our sole source
of income. We created that page to send our message to authorities and make our
voice heard. We also want all Egyptian
sportsmen to join us… We would like to fully stress on our support for the
rights of retribution for the Port Said martyrs, we want swift justice through
the legal channels. But that has nothing to do with football resumption."

Many Egyptian second-division players, who are poorly paid,
have complained that they could ill-afford the consequences of the protracted
suspension. Their concern was echoed by players for premier league clubs.

Frustrated with the slow moving legal proceedings against 74
people, including nine security officials, accused of responsibility for the
Port Said incident, Al Ahly fans have vowed to prevent the resumption of
matches.

"We will never let the football come back in Egypt
unless the field is clean from corruption," said a leader of the Al Ahly ultras.

In withdrawing from the race for the EFA presidency, Mr.
Abou-Reida dropped his plans to appeal to the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration
of Sport (CAS) a decision last month by the Egyptian body to disqualify him on
the grounds that he had been a board member for two consecutive terms and
needed to wait for four years before again running for office. Mr. Abou-Reida
had asserted that his disqualification constituted government interference.

“I decided not to take any action against the decision to
disqualify me. I had a chance to go to CAS but I will not take the matter to a
non-Egyptian entity,” Mr. Abou-Reida said this week in a television interview.

Mr. Shobeir, who has repeatedly attacked the ultras in
public said that he had “said it from the beginning, if Abou-Reida decided to
withdraw then I would withdraw.”

The ultras have accused Mr. Abou-Reida, who hails from Port
Said, of having obstructed justice in the Port Said case. They charge that he
was responsible for the EFA’s failure to attend a CAS hearing on the banning
from soccer for two years of Port Said Club Al Masry SC in whose stadium the
lethal brawl occurred. The EFA’s absence led the CAS to overturn the EFA’s
banning of Al Masry.

James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam
School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in
Singapore and the author of the blog, The Turbulent World of Middle East
Soccer.

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About Me

James M DorseyWelcome to The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer by James M. Dorsey, a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Soccer in the Middle East and North Africa is played as much on as off the pitch. Stadiums are a symbol of the battle for political freedom; economic opportunity; ethnic, religious and national identity; and gender rights. Alongside the mosque, the stadium was until the Arab revolt erupted in late 2010 the only alternative public space for venting pent-up anger and frustration. It was the training ground in countries like Egypt and Tunisia where militant fans prepared for a day in which their organization and street battle experience would serve them in the showdown with autocratic rulers. Soccer has its own unique thrill – a high-stakes game of cat and mouse between militants and security forces and a struggle for a trophy grander than the FIFA World Cup: the future of a region. This blog explores the role of soccer at a time of transition from autocratic rule to a more open society. It also features James’s daily political comment on the region’s developments. Contact: incoherentblog@gmail.comView my complete profile